VIDEO: He Escaped From a North Korean Prison Camp. Now He’s Showing the World His Torture Scars.

SEOUL, South Korea—In an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk shows scars that he suffered from torture inside a North Korean prison camp.

Shin was born in a North Korean prison in 1982 and made a daring escape in 2005. He allowed The Daily Signal to film his back and buttocks, which were burned when he was hung above a charcoal fire.

“As the fire started rising up toward my back,” Shin said, “I could feel that it was scorching hot, and I could even smell my own flesh burning.”

This week, the U.N. Security Council met in New York, and Shin is hoping the international community will recognize what’s happening in North Korea.

“If the U.N. or anyone in the international community cares about the human rights issue in North Korea … if you have any worries or concerns at all for the North Koreans who are suffering and dying right now, I strongly plead for some sort of direct action to be taken for them,” Shin said.

Shin also spoke about his escape from the North Korean prison camp in a separate video The Daily Signal will release next week.

COMMENTARY BY

Ed Frank

Over the past 20 years, Ed Frank has worked in communications roles on Capitol Hill, in the Bush administration and for free-market organizations. He’s currently president of Frank Strategies. He recently visited Botswana on behalf of The Daily Signal. Twitter: @frankstrategies.

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